Occams Razor & Technology Disasters And Why We Refuse To See The Elephants In The Room. – Forbes

The elephants in the room are people. But theres a resistance to see the elephants or deal with the often obvious steps necessary to solve people problems. As the pace of technology accelerates, digital competition explodes, and the need for agile leadership grows, companies must revisit and reimagine how it recruits, rewards and manages their technology teams including especially executive leadership.

Simplest Explanations Are Still the Best

Hard Or Easy Way With Directional Arrows Pointing Two Directions Meaning Difficult And Simple ... [+] Strategy

TheOccams Razorprinciple stated that plurality should not be posited without necessity.The principle givesprecedenceto simplicity:of two competing theories, the simplerexplanationof an entity is to be preferred.The principle is also expressed as entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.There are similar principles out there, notably the KISS principle keep it simple, stupid which most likely finds its origins in similarminimalistconcepts, such asOccam's razor,Leonardo da Vinci's simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,Shakespeare's brevity is the soul of wit,Mies Van Der Rohe's less is more.Bjarne Stroustrup's make simple tasks simple!, orAntoine de Saint Exupry's it seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.Colin Chapman, the founder ofLotus Cars, urged his designers to simplify, then add lightness.Heath Robinsonmachines andRube Goldberg's machines, intentionally overly-complex solutions to simple tasks or problems, are humorous examples of non-KISS solutions, including Einsteins "make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.

The point?When it comes to enterprise technology, we insist on attributing failure to anything but the obvious.Sure, there are a few analyses that focus on the simplest explanations, but by and large we like to explain failure around methods, tools, techniques, technologies, networks, platforms, data anything we believe we can define and measure.Our obsession with capability maturity models is a perfect example of how we aggregate competencies into measurable frameworks.Agile is a surefire methodology to fix broken software projects!ERP is perfect for integrating accounting and finance!Project Management Certifications will make us better project managers!And so IT goes.

What Humans Believe

Things We Believe

Were not good at this.We often want to believe things that have no basis in fact or even reality.Like the earth is flat, Covid vaccines make us magnetic and left-wing democrats consume babies. On the not-as-crazy list are what tens of millions of Americans actually believe, such as:

The Kicker

Why such a long list? Well, its not long. There are at least fifty more things I could have listed. Its important to understand that many of the same people who believe these (and many other things) run projects, companies and government agencies.Many of the people who believe these things are technology consultants, run technology companies and manage technology projects.To assume otherwise, defies Occams core principle and other common-sense notions of likelihoods, not to mention any statistical measures of probability.Stated differently, whats the probability thatnoneof the believers of any of these (and so many other) things run technology companies, manage technology projects or consult? It gets worse.When we delve into the psychological profiles of many of our friends, associates and leaders, it gets horrifyingly messy. Whats the probability that none of the people in your professional orbit believe any less-than-factual things and have no personality challenges?

The point?

The simplest explanations for why so many enterprise technology projects fail in addition to all of the conventional explanations are traceable to people.Before you rip out and replace all of your methods, tools, techniques, frameworks, data, platforms and technologies, look closely at the people in the room. Study the belief systems, the personalities and relationships exhibited (noting that many are hidden), and think about how all these influence planning, decision-making, promotions, investments and, yes, technology project failures.

The Elephant in the Room

A businessman says, "I suppose I'll be the one to mention the elephant in the room".

I started this analysis a while ago when I attempted to explain why so many technology projects fail.I offered that it was all about the people, all the time, and that the lack of the right talent, poor executive support and an anti-technology corporate cultures explained more about failure than the old favorites, like scope creep, requirements mismanagement, etc.Its the long way of saying that incompetent people with strange world views (and other traits) can be damaging to project success (not to mention corporate success). Who knew?Everyone and thats the elephant in the room so few of us are willing to see.How many people do you know have no business doing what theyre doing?I stopped counting years ago.William of Ockhamhad it right:the simplest explanation is usually the best. Our problem is we just refuse to see it.

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Occams Razor & Technology Disasters And Why We Refuse To See The Elephants In The Room. - Forbes